Titanic about what. In which ocean did the Titanic sink: all the secrets of the Titanic crash, the main causes of the death of the ship and the shocking results of the investigation

building

Construction and equipment

Specifications

Bulkheads

The Titanic was built to stay afloat if any 2 of its 16 watertight compartments, any 3 of the first 5 compartments, or all of the first 4 compartments were flooded.

The first 2 bulkheads in the bow and the last in the stern were solid, all the rest had sealed doors that allowed the crew and passengers to move between compartments. On the flooring of the second bottom, in the bulkhead "K", there were the only doors that led to the cooling chamber. On decks "F" and "E" in almost all bulkheads there were airtight doors connecting the rooms used by passengers, all of them could be battened down both remotely and manually, using a device located directly on the door and from the deck that reached bulkhead. To batten down such doors on the passenger decks, a special key was required, which was available only to the senior stewards. But on deck "G" there were no doors in the bulkheads.

In the bulkheads "D" - "O", directly above the second bottom in the compartments where the machines and boilers were located, there were 12 vertically closed doors, they were controlled by an electric drive from the navigation bridge. In case of danger or accident, or when the captain or the watch officer deemed it necessary, the electromagnets, on a signal from the bridge, released the latches, and all 12 doors fell under the influence of their own gravity and the space behind them turned out to be hermetically closed. If the doors were closed by an electric signal from the bridge, then it was possible to open them only after removing the voltage from the electric drive.

Deck "G" captured only the bow and stern, between which the boiler rooms were located. The forward part of the deck, 58 m long, was 2 m above the waterline, gradually lowered towards the center of the liner and at the opposite end was already at the level of the waterline. There were 26 cabins for 106 third class passengers, the rest of the area was occupied by the luggage compartment for first class passengers, the ship's mail and the ball room. Behind the bow of the deck there were coal bunkers, which occupied 6 watertight compartments around the chimneys, followed by 2 compartments with steam pipes for reciprocating steam engines and a turbine compartment. This was followed by the aft part of the deck 64 m long with warehouses, pantries and 60 cabins for 186 third-class passengers, which was already below the waterline.

Masts

One was aft, the other was on the forecastle, each was steel with a teak top. On the front, at a height of 29 m from the waterline, there was a mars platform (“crow's nest”), which could be reached by an internal metal ladder.

Service premises

In front of the boat deck there was a navigation bridge, 58 m away from the bow. On the bridge there was a wheelhouse with a steering wheel and a compass, immediately behind it was a room where navigation charts were stored. To the right of the wheelhouse were the navigational cabin, the captain's cabin and part of the officers' cabins, to the left - the rest of the officers' cabins. Behind them, behind the front funnel, was the cabin of the radiotelegraph and the cabin of the radio operator. In front of the deck "D" there were living quarters for 108 stokers, a special spiral ladder connected this deck directly to the boiler rooms, so that the stokers could leave for work and return without passing by the cabins or saloons for passengers. In front of deck "E" there were living quarters for 72 loaders and 44 sailors. In the first part of the "F" deck there were quarters of 53 stokers of the third shift. Deck G contained quarters for 45 stokers and oilers. RMS in the name stands for Royal Mail Vessel. The ship had a post office and a warehouse on decks "F" and "G", where 5 postal workers worked.

Second bottom

The second bottom was located about one and a half meters above the keel and occupied 9/10 of the ship's length, not capturing only small areas in the bow and stern. On the second day, boilers, reciprocating steam engines, a steam turbine and electric generators were installed, all firmly fixed on steel plates, the remaining space was used for cargo, coal and drinking water tanks. In the engine room section, the second bottom rose 2.1 m above the keel, which increased the protection of the liner in case of damage to the outer skin.

Power point

Propellers of the Titanic before launching the ship

The registered power of steam engines and turbines was 50 thousand liters. With. (actually 55 thousand hp). The turbine was located in the fifth watertight compartment in the stern of the liner, in the next compartment, closer to the bow, steam engines were located, the other 6 compartments were occupied by twenty-four double-flow and five single-flow boilers that produced steam for the main machines, turbines, generators and auxiliary mechanisms. The diameter of each boiler was 4.79 m, the length of the double-flow boiler was 6.08 m, the single-flow boiler was 3.57 m. Each double-flow boiler had 6 fireboxes, and the single-flow boiler had 3. In addition, the Titanic was equipped with four auxiliary machines with generators, each with a capacity of 400 kilowatts, generating electricity at a voltage of 100 volts. Next to them were two more 30-kilowatt generators. High-pressure steam from the boilers went to 2 triple expansion steam engines, which rotated the side propellers. From the machines, the steam then entered the low-pressure turbine, which drove the middle propeller. From the turbine, the exhaust steam entered the condensers, from where fresh water went back to the boilers in a closed cycle. The Titanic developed a decent speed for its time, although it was inferior to the competitor's turbo ships - Cunard Line.

Pipes

The liner had 4 pipes, each of which had a diameter of 7.3 m, a height of 18.5 m. The first three removed smoke from the boiler furnaces, the fourth, located above the turbine compartment, served as an exhaust fan, a chimney for ship kitchens was connected to it . A longitudinal section of the vessel is presented on its model exhibited at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, where it is clearly seen that the last pipe was not connected to the fireboxes. The fourth chimney was purely cosmetic to make the ship look more powerful.

Electrical supply

10,000 light bulbs, 562 electric heaters, mainly in first-class cabins, 153 electric motors, including electric drives for eight cranes with a total capacity of 18 tons, 4 cargo winches with a capacity of 750 kg, 4 elevators, each for 12 people, were connected to the distribution network. In addition, electricity was consumed by the telephone exchange and radio communications, fans in the boiler room and engine rooms, apparatus in the gym, dozens of machines and appliances in the kitchens, including refrigerators.

Connection

The telephone exchange serviced 50 lines. The radio equipment on the liner was the most modern, the power of the main transmitter was 5 kilowatts, the power came from an electric generator. The second, an emergency transmitter, was powered by batteries. 4 antennas were strung between the two masts, some up to 75 m long. The guaranteed range of the radio signal was 250 miles. During the day, under favorable conditions, communication was possible at a distance of up to 400 miles, and at night - up to 2000.

The radio equipment came on board on April 2 from the Marconi company, which by this time had monopolized the radio industry in Italy and England. Two young radio officers assembled and installed the station all day, for verification, a test connection was immediately made with the coast station at Malin Head ( English), on the north coast of Ireland, and with Liverpool. On April 3, the radio equipment worked like clockwork, on this day a connection was established with the island of Tenerife at a distance of 2000 miles and with Port Said in Egypt (3000 miles). In January 1912, the Titanic was given the radio call sign " MUC', then they were replaced by ' MGY", previously owned by the American ship Yale. As the dominant radio company, Marconi introduced its own radio call signs, most of which began with the letter "M", regardless of its location and the country of residence of the vessel on which it was installed.

Swimming and crash

Many celebrities of that time took part in the first trip of the liner, including the millionaire and major industrialist John Jacob Astor IV and his wife Madeleine Astor, businessman Benjamin Guggenheim, the owner of Macy's department store Isidor Strauss and his wife Ida, the eccentric millionaire Margaret Molly Brown, who received the nickname "Unsinkable" after the death of the ship, Sir Cosm Duff Gordon and his wife, fashion designer Lady Lucy Duff Gordon, popular at the beginning of the century, businessman and cricketer John Thayer, British journalist William Thomas Steed, Countess of Rotskaya, military assistant to US President Archibald Butt , film actress Dorothy Gibson and many others.

North and South transatlantic routes. ice conditions

The threat to shipping in the North Atlantic is icebergs breaking off from glaciers in western Greenland and drifting under the influence of currents. Danger is also borne by ice fields originating in the Arctic Basin, as well as off the coast of Labrador, Newfoundland and in the Strait of St. Lawrence, and drifting under the influence of winds and currents.

The shortest route from northern Europe to the United States runs along the coast of Newfoundland, directly through the zone of fog and icebergs. In order to streamline navigation in the North Atlantic, in 1898, shipping companies entered into an agreement establishing 2 transatlantic routes, passing much to the south. For each of the routes, separate routes were determined for steamers moving west and east, separated from each other at a distance of up to 50 miles. From mid-January to mid-August, during the season of the greatest ice danger, steamers moved along the South Route. The rest of the year, the Northern route was used. This order usually made it possible to minimize the likelihood of encountering drifting ice. But 1912 turned out to be unusual. From the South Highway, along the western route of which the Titanic also moved, reports of icebergs came one after another. In this regard, the US Hydrological Service raised the issue of moving the route to the south, but the corresponding decisions were made belatedly, after the disaster.

Chronology

• Wednesday, April 10, 1912
  • 12:00 p.m. — The Titanic leaves the Southampton harbor and narrowly avoids colliding with the American liner New York. There are 922 passengers on board the Titanic.
  • 19:00 - stop in Cherbourg (France) to take on board 274 passengers and mail.
  • 21:00 - Titanic left Cherbourg and headed for Queenstown (Ireland).

• Sunday, April 14, 1912
  • 09:00 - Caronia reports ice in the region of 42 ° north latitude, 49-51 ° west longitude.
  • 13:42 - "Baltik" reports the presence of ice in the area of ​​41°51'N, 49°52'W.
  • 13:45 - America reports ice at 41°27'N, 50°8'W.
  • 19:00 - air temperature 43 ° Fahrenheit (6 ° C).
  • 19:30 - air temperature 39 ° Fahrenheit (3.9 ° C).
  • 19:30 - The Californian reports ice at 42°3'N, 49°9'W.
  • 21:00 - air temperature 33 ° Fahrenheit (0.6 ° C).
  • 21:30 - Second Officer Lightoller warns the ship's carpenter and watchmen in the engine room that it is necessary to monitor the fresh water system - water in the pipelines may freeze; he tells the lookout to watch the appearance of ice.
  • 21:40 - Mesaba reports ice at 42°-41°25'N, 49°-50°30'W.
  • 22:00 - air temperature 32 ° Fahrenheit (0 ° C).
  • 10:30 p.m. - Sea water temperature dropped to 31° Fahrenheit (-0.56°C).
  • 11:00 p.m. — The Californian warns of ice, but the Titanic's radio operator cuts off the radio before the Californian can give the area's coordinates.
  • 23:39 - At a point with coordinates 41 ° 46 'north latitude, 50 ° 14 ' west longitude (later it turned out that these coordinates were calculated incorrectly), an iceberg was sighted at a distance of about 650 meters straight ahead.
  • 23:40 - Despite the maneuver, after 39 seconds, the underwater part of the vessel touched, the hull received numerous small holes for a length of about 100 meters. Of the 16 watertight compartments of the vessel, 6 were cut through (in the sixth, the leak was extremely insignificant).

Stages of the sinking of the Titanic

• Monday, April 15, 1912
  • 00:05 - The trim on the nose became noticeable. An order was given to uncover the lifeboats and convene the crew and passengers to the assembly points.
  • 00:15 - the first radiotelegraph signal for help was transmitted from the Titanic.
  • 00:45 - The first flare is fired and the first lifeboat (No. 7) is launched. The bow deck goes under water.
  • 01:15 - Class 3 passengers are allowed on deck.
  • 01:40 - the last flare is fired.
  • 02:05 - the last lifeboat is launched (collapsible boat D). The bow of the boat deck goes under water.
  • 02:08 - The Titanic jerks violently and moves forward. A wave rolls over the deck and floods the bridge, washing passengers and crew members into the water.
  • 02:10 - the last radiotelegraph signals were transmitted.
  • 02:15 - The Titanic lifts the stern high, exposing the rudder and propellers.
  • 02:17 - Electric lighting goes out.
  • 02:18 - The Titanic breaks in two as it sinks rapidly.
  • 02:20 - The Titanic sank.
  • 02:29 - At a speed of about 13 miles per hour, the bow of the Titanic crashes into the ocean floor at a depth of 3750 meters, burrowing into the sedimentary rocks of the bottom.
  • 03:30 - flares fired from the Carpathia are noticed from lifeboats.
  • 04:10 - Carpathia picked up the first lifeboat from the Titanic (boat No. 2).
  • 08:30 - Carpathia picked up the last (No. 12) lifeboat from the Titanic.
  • 08:50 - Carpathia, taking on board 710 people who escaped from the Titanic, heads for New York.
• Thursday, April 18, 1912
  • The Carpathia Arrives in New York

clash

Photo of an iceberg taken by the chief steward of a German ship Prince Adalbert on the morning of April 16, 1912. The steward was unaware of the disaster at the time, but the iceberg caught his attention because it had a brown streak at its base, indicating that the iceberg had hit something less than 12 hours earlier. It is assumed that the Titanic collided with him.

Recognizing an iceberg in a light haze, the forward looking Fleet warned “there is ice in front of us” and hit the bell three times, which meant an obstacle right on the course, after which he rushed to the telephone connecting the “crow’s nest” with the bridge. Moody's sixth mate, who was on the bridge, responded almost instantly and heard a cry of "ice right on the nose!!!" (“ice right ahead!!!”). With a polite thank you, Moody turned to the officer of the watch, Murdoch, and repeated the warning. He rushed to the telegraph, put his handle on “stop” and shouted “right to board”, while simultaneously transmitting the order “full back” to the engine room, pressed the lever, which turned on the closing of the watertight doors in the bulkheads of the boiler rooms and the engine room.

Photo of an iceberg taken from the cable-laying ship Mine”, which was one of the first ships to discover the corpses of passengers and the wreckage of the ship. Presumably, the Titanic could have collided with this particular iceberg, since, according to the crew, “ Mines", it was the only iceberg near the crash site.

According to the terminology of 1912, the command "right on board" meant turning the stern of the vessel to the right, and the bow to the left (since 1909, Russian ships have already used the natural giving of commands, for example: "left rudder"). Coxswain Robert Hitchens ( English) leaned on the handle of the steering wheel and quickly turned it counterclockwise until it stops, after which Murdoch was told "Right rudder, sir!" At that moment, the helmsman Alfred Oliver and Boxhall, who was in the chart house, ran to the bridge when the bells rang out in the "crow's nest". A. Oliver, in his testimony in the US Senate, however, definitely stated that at the entrance to the bridge he heard the command "rudder left" (corresponding to a turn to the right), and this command was carried out. According to Boxhall (British Inquiry question 15355), Murdoch reported to Captain Smith: "I turned to port and reversed, and was about to turn to starboard to get around him, but he was too close."

It is known that lookout binoculars were not used on the Titanic because the key to the binocular safe was missing. He was taken in by Captain Blair's second mate when the captain kicked him off the team, taking on board a team member from the Olympic. It is possible that the lack of binoculars was one of the reasons for the crash of the liner. However, the existence of binoculars became known only 95 years after the shipwreck, when one of them was exhibited at the Henry Eldridge and Sons auction house in Devizes, Wiltshire. The second mate of the Titanic was to be David Blair, for which he arrived on April 3, 1912 from Belfast to Southampton. However, the management of the White Star Line changed him at the last moment to Henry Wild, the first officer from the similar ship Olympic, because he had experience in operating such large liners, as a result of which Blair in a hurry forgot to hand over the key to the person who came to his place . However, many historians agree that the presence of binoculars would not have helped to prevent a catastrophe. This is also confirmed by the fact that the lookouts in the "crow's nest" noticed the iceberg before those on the bridge who had binoculars with them.

The Titanic is sinking

lifeboats

There were 2,224 people on board the Titanic, but the total capacity of the lifeboats was only 1,178 people. The reason was that, according to the rules then in force, the total capacity of lifeboats depended on the tonnage of the ship, and not on the number of passengers and crew members. The rules were drawn up in 1894, when the largest ships had a displacement of about 10,000 tons. The displacement of the Titanic was 46,328 tons.

But even these boats were only partially filled. Captain Smith gave the order or instruction "women and children first". The officers interpreted this order in different ways. Second mate Lightoller, who commanded the launching of the boats on the port side, allowed men to take places in the boats only if rowers were needed and under no other circumstances. First Officer Murdoch, who commanded the launching of the boats on the starboard side, allowed the men to go down if there were no women and children. So, in boat number 1, only 12 seats out of 65 were occupied. In addition, at first, many passengers did not want to take seats in boats, because the Titanic, which had no external damage, seemed safer to them. The last boats filled better, because it was already obvious to the passengers that the Titanic would sink. In the very last boat, 44 seats out of 65 were occupied. But in the sixteenth boat that left the side there were many empty seats, passengers of the 1st class were saved in it.

The crew did not even have time to lower all the boats that were on board. The twentieth lifeboat was washed overboard when the front of the steamer went under water and she floated upside down.

The report of the British commission on the results of the investigation into the circumstances of the sinking of the Titanic states that "if the boats had been delayed a little longer before launching, or if the doors of the passage had been opened for passengers, more of them could have got on the boats." The reason for the low survival rate of class 3 passengers with a high degree of probability can be considered obstacles placed by the crew for the passage of passengers to the deck, closing the doors of the passage. People in boats, as a rule, did not save those who were in the water. On the contrary, they tried to sail as far as possible from the wreck, fearing that those in the water would capsize their boats or be sucked into the funnel from a sinking ship. Only 6 people were picked up alive from the water.

Refusal of assistance by the steamer "Californian"

"Californian"

Serious criticism fell upon the SS Californian team and personally on the captain of the ship, Stanley Lord. The ship was only a few miles from the Titanic but did not respond to its distress calls and missile signals. The Californian warned the Titanic by radio of ice buildup, which caused the Californian to stop for the night, but the warnings were condemned by the Titanic's senior wireless operator, Jack Phillips.

British investigation evidence showed that at 10:10 p.m., the Californian observed the ship's lights to the south. Captain Stanley Lord and third officer S. W. Groves (who was released by Lord at 11:10 p.m.) later decided that it was a passenger liner. At 11:50 p.m., the officer saw that the ship's lights were flickering, as if they had been turned off or turned sharply, and that the port lights appeared. By order of the Lord, Morse light signals were sent to the ship between 11:30 p.m. and 1:00 a.m., but they were not received.

Captain Lord retired to his cabin at 11:00 p.m. to spend the night, however, Second Officer Herbert Stone, while on duty, notified Lord at 1:10 a.m. that the ship had fired 5 missiles. Lord wanted to know if these were company signals, that is, colored flashes used for identification. Stone replied that he did not know and that the missiles were white. Captain Lord instructed the crew to continue signaling the ship with a Morse lamp, and went to bed. Three more rockets were seen at 1:50 am and Stone noted that the ship looked strange in the water, as if it was tilted. At 2:15 am, Lord was notified that the ship was no longer in sight. The Lord asked again if the lights had any color and was informed that they were all white.

The Californian eventually answered. At approximately 5:30 am, Chief Officer George Stewart woke up wireless operator Cyril Farmstone Evans and informed him that rockets had been seen during the night and asked him to contact the ship. He received the news of the sinking of the Titanic, Captain Lord was notified and the ship went to assist. It arrived much later than the Carpathia, which had already picked up the survivors.

The investigation revealed that the ship the Californian had seen was actually the Titanic, and that the Californian could have come to its rescue, so Captain Lord acted inappropriately by not doing so. However, Lord maintained his innocence for the rest of his life, and many researchers argue that the famous positions of the Titanic and the Californian make it impossible for the former to be the infamous "Mystery Ship," a topic that "evoked ... millions of words." and … hours of heated debate”, and continues to do so [ non-authoritative source?] .

The composition of the dead and the survivors

Almost all the women and children from cabins 1 and 2 were saved. More than half of the women and children in Class 3 cabins died as they had difficulty finding their way up through the maze of narrow corridors. Nearly all of the men also died. The tragedy of the Paulson family claimed the lives of Alma's mother and all her four young children, whom Father Niels was waiting in vain for in New York.

338 men (20% of all adult men) and 316 women (74% of all adult women) survived, including Violette Jessop, Dorothy Gibson, Molly Brown, Lucy Duff Gordon, Countess of Roth and others. Of the children, 56 survived (slightly more than half of all children).

The last of the Titanic's passengers, Millvina Dean, who was two and a half months old at the time of the sinking of the liner, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97. Her ashes were scattered to the wind on October 24, 2009 in the port of Southampton, from where the Titanic began its only voyage.

A peculiar record belongs to Jessop's maid, Violette, who survived accidents on all 3 Olympic-class ships. She worked on the Olympic when it collided with the cruiser Hawk; escaped from the Titanic, and subsequently survived when the Britannic sank by hitting a mine during the First World War.

The sinking of the Titanic is one of the largest maritime disasters

Among the disasters that occurred outside of hostilities, the Titanic ranks third in terms of the number of victims. The sad leadership is behind the Doña Paz ferry, which collided with an oil tanker in 1987. More than 4,000 people died in the collision and subsequent fire. The second place is held by the wooden paddle steamer Sultana, which sank on April 27, 1865 on the Mississippi River near Memphis due to the explosion of a steam boiler and fire. The total death toll on the steamer exceeded 1,700, the largest disaster on a riverboat.

Theories about the causes of the accident

sheathing

On the other hand, this test only proves that modern steel is much better than the one used at the beginning of the 20th century. It does not prove that the steel used to build the Titanic was of poor quality (or not the best) for its time.

In the early years of the 21st century, in a number of mass media, with reference to the latest studies of the ship's hull by deep-sea submersibles, the opinion was expressed that in a collision with an iceberg, the ship did not receive a hole, and its skin withstood the blow. The cause of death was that the hull rivets could not prevent the divergence of its sheets, and outboard water began to flow into the resulting long gap.

radio operators

The internal communication system of the liner was extremely unsatisfactory, there was no direct communication with the captain - he had to report all messages orally. The reason was that the radiotelegraph station was considered a luxury, and the main task of telegraph operators was to serve especially wealthy passengers - it is known that in just 36 hours of operation, radio operators transmitted more than 250 telegrams. Payment for telegraph services was made on the spot, in the radio room, and at that time was very expensive, tips were received in large quantities.

The radio log from the Titanic did not survive, but according to the surviving records from various ships that had contact with the liner, it was possible to more or less restore the picture of the work of radio operators. Reports of drifting ice and icebergs began to arrive already in the morning of the fatal date - April 14, the exact coordinates of the high-risk zone were indicated. The Titanic continued to sail on, without swerving off course or slowing down. At 19:30, in particular, a telegram came from the Mesaba transport ship: “I report ice from 42 degrees to 41 degrees 25 minutes north latitude and from 49 degrees to 50 degrees 30 minutes west longitude. I saw a large number of icebergs, ice fields. At this time, the senior communications officer of the Titanic, Jack Phillips, worked for the benefit of the passengers, transmitting an inexhaustible stream of messages to the Cape Ras station, while the most important message never reached the captain, lost in a pile of paper - the Mesaba radio operator forgot to mark the message as "Ice Report" with prefix MSG, which meant "personally to the captain." This little detail overshadowed Philips' selfless work.

On the other hand, on April 14, in addition to this message, several more iceberg warnings were received from other ships. The captain took certain measures, in particular, the officers were warned of the danger verbally and in writing, and those looking ahead were ordered to look for the presence of icebergs. Therefore, it cannot be said that Captain Smith did not know about them.

Iceberg

The news about the absence of binoculars from the lookout was received with criticism (according to many testimonies, the binoculars were only on the Belfast-Southampton segment, after this stop Hogg, on the orders of the captain, for some reason folded them in his cockpit). There is an opinion that having binoculars looking ahead, despite a moonless night, would notice an iceberg not a quarter of a mile (450 m), but 2 or 3 miles (4-6 km). On the other hand, binoculars narrow the field of view, so they are only used after when the lookout noticed something. Lookouts without binoculars spotted the iceberg before the watch officer with binoculars.

If there were even a slight wave or swell in the ocean, he would see white lambs at the “waterline” of the iceberg. As it later became known, the Titanic collided with a “black” iceberg, that is, with one that had recently turned over in the water. The side facing the liner had a dark blue color, because of this there was no reflection (an ordinary white iceberg under such a condition could be seen from a mile away).

The question of what prevented the first assistant W. Murdoch from discovering the iceberg himself in a timely manner remains open. The captain of the Carpathia, Rostron, said that 75% of the objects in the sea are detected from the bridge earlier than from the "crow's nest". When his steamer sailed at night to the site of the accident of the Titanic, all the icebergs on their way were seen from the bridge before they were found by lookouts (British Inquiry, questions 25431-25449).

Maneuvering

There is an opinion that if Murdoch had not given the order to reverse immediately after the command "left rudder", the Titanic would certainly have avoided a collision, since the reverse negatively affects the effectiveness of the rudder. In this case, however, the time required to execute the command is overlooked. This takes at least 30 seconds and the command was probably received with a delay; - commands for the engine room are rarely given along the route of the liner (the last one was given three days before), so no one is standing at the engine telegraph. The team simply did not have time to execute, otherwise the Titanic would have experienced a strong vibration, but no one mentions it. According to the testimonies of the survivors, the cars stopped and reversed after the collision, so this command had no practical significance.

There is also an opinion that the most correct decision would be to start only the left car in reverse. Working the propellers apart would help speed up the turn and slow down the speed. The middle propeller was driven by a steam turbine that ran on the residual steam from the onboard machines; this turbine had no reverse gear. Thus, the stopped screw, behind which there was a single rudder of a very small area, created a turbulent flow in which the already inefficient rudder almost completely lost its effectiveness. Perhaps even in order to avoid a collision, it would be necessary, on the contrary, to increase the speed of the middle propeller to increase the effectiveness of the steering wheel. Moreover, the reverse takes a considerable time, and, therefore, there were practically no chances to quickly reduce the speed.

Attention should be paid to the fact that the accident occurred on the first flight. The navigators had no experience in managing this vessel, which explains the untimely and inefficient maneuvering attempts. At the same time, Captain Smith, First Officer Wild, and First Officer Murdoch, who was on duty at the time of the accident, had experience working on the Olympic built according to a similar project. In 1903, in a critical situation, Murdoch, with his timely and decisive actions, canceling the command of his superiors, saved the steamer Arabic from a collision.

There are also suggestions that the Titanic would have remained afloat if the rudder had not been shifted and the ship would have "rammed" the iceberg, taking a hit on the stem. The device of partitions was just aimed at the "survival" of the ship in a head-on collision, while the sides of the ship were not protected. “Wilding, a shipbuilder from Belfast, calculated that the bow of the ship would be indented by 25-30 meters, but the ship would not die. It would be instant death for those who were at the bow of the vessel at that time, but the inertia of the course would be rather slow, comparable to a car traveling at this speed, which had its brakes instantly pressed to the stop,” says Barnaby. However, Murdoch is justified by the fact that he did not have the ability to measure the distance to the iceberg and could not know that the maneuver he had taken would not succeed. Therefore, he can hardly be reproached for the fact that he did not give a command that would obviously kill people.

Buoyancy

The liner was not designed to flood all the first five compartments. Such a design, although possible, is extremely expensive - the only ship built this way, Great Eastern, was unprofitable. The unprofitability of this giant ship is confirmed by the fact that it was not found possible to use it for its intended purpose, and it went down in history as a cable ship used in laying the transatlantic telegraph cable. It is also impossible not to take into account the likelihood of risk. After all, apart from the Titanic, in peacetime, not a single ship suffered such damage.

Slowing down or avoiding the iceberg field

Despite warnings about icebergs, the captain of the Titanic did not slow down or change route. But that was standard practice at the time. So, during the investigation into the death of the Titanic, Captain Gerhard C. Affeld, who commanded 5 transatlantic ships, showed that, having received warnings about icebergs, he never changed the route and reduced speed only in case of fog or bad weather. He studied the logbooks of the ships entrusted to him. According to these logs, other captains, having received warnings about icebergs, also did not change the route and, as a rule, did not slow down. On the other hand, not everyone followed this practice: the Californian ship closest to the Titanic, having reached the iceberg field, stopped at its border (and gave the Titanic a warning that was ignored).

Delayed reaction on the bridge

Lookout Reginald Lee testified that he spotted the iceberg from a distance of "half a mile (926 m) maybe more, maybe less." The Titanic would cover half a mile in 80 seconds. Helmsman Hichens testified that by the time of the collision the ship had managed to turn 2 points. Since the windows of the wheelhouse were darkened so that the light did not interfere with the observation from the bridge, Hichens could not see the iceberg. An experiment on the twin steamer Olympic showed that a turn of 2 points would take 37 seconds, counting from the moment the command was given. The authors of the book Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic: A Centennial Reappraisal, published on the occasion of the centenary of the shipwreck, restore the timing of the accident, and put forward a version of the “lost 30 seconds” after the signal of the lookouts, who left Murdoch for something to visually detect an iceberg, assess the situation and make a decision.

Causes of the tragedy

Subjective reasons

The main subjective cause of death was the outdated rules of the British Merchant Shipping Code, which made the number of lifeboats dependent on the tonnage of the vessel, and not on the number of passengers. The rules were established in 1894 when the tonnage of passenger ships did not exceed 12,952 tons, and all ships of 10,000 tons and above fell into one category. For such vessels, regulations required that the lifeboats had enough space for 962 people. The tonnage of the Titanic was 46,328 tons.

The owners of the Titanic, formally fulfilling the instructions (and even slightly overfulfilling them, since the Titanic's boats had 1,178 seats, not 962), provided the ship with an insufficient number of boats. Despite the fact that there were enough lifeboats to board 1178 people, only 704 were saved. There were certain subjective reasons for this. For example, second mate Charles Lightoller, who commanded the launching of the boats on the port side, followed Captain Smith's order "women and children first" literally: he allowed men to take places in the boats only if rowers were needed and under no other circumstances.

Based on the stories of Charles Lightoller, his granddaughter Lady Patten put forward a new version of the sinking of the transatlantic liner. According to the writer, the Titanic did not sink because it was sailing too fast, because of which it simply did not have time to avoid a collision with an iceberg. There was plenty of time to dodge the ice block, but the helmsman, Robert Hitchens, panicked and turned the helm in the wrong direction. The ship received a hole, due to which it eventually sank. However, passengers and crew could have been saved if the Titanic had stopped immediately after the collision. In addition, the nearest ship was only a few miles from the liner. The manager of the company that owned the huge ship, Joseph Bruce Ismay, convinced the captain to continue sailing, fearing that the incident could cause him considerable material damage. He wanted to save the Titanic, but he thought only about the financial side of the matter. The rate of water entering the holds of the liner has increased exponentially. Water entered the hull at a rate of approximately 400 tons per minute. As a result, the ship sank in a matter of hours. About why the liner went down, Lightoller told only his relatives. According to Patten, her relatives feared for their reputation and therefore did not want to disclose the true causes of the 1912 disaster. “My relatives died a long time ago, and I realized that I was the only one in the world who knew about the true cause of the sinking of the Titanic,” the writer said.

Objective reasons

The cause of the collision and loss of the vessel was a combination of adverse factors:

• The iceberg belonged to a rare type of so-called. "black icebergs" (turned over so that their dark underwater part hits the surface), because of which it was noticed too late.
• The night was windless and moonless, otherwise the lookout would have noticed the "lambs" around the iceberg.
• The speed of the steamer was too high, due to which the impact of the iceberg on the hull was of maximum force. If the captain had ordered in advance, when entering the iceberg belt, to reduce the speed of the ship, then perhaps the impact force on the iceberg would not have been enough to break through the Titanic's hull.
• The non-transmission of several telegrams from neighboring ships by members of the radio room, busy sending private telegrams of wealthy passengers for money, about the dangerous proximity of icebergs to Captain Smith, which lowered his vigilance.
• The best steel of the time, from which the Titanic was made, became brittle at low temperatures. The water temperature that night was +2…+4 °C, which made the ship's hull very vulnerable.
• The poor quality of the rivets that connected the plating sheets of the side of the ship, when an iceberg hit, the heads of forged iron rivets, which replaced the originally provided steel ones, crumbled due to their “porosity” due to the inclusion of foreign impurities in them.
• The arrangement of partitions between the compartments was made based on a frontal impact, and the doors between the partitions simply could not withstand the pressure of water and broke under its pressure.

Flood depth

On September 1, 1985, an expedition led by the director of the Institute of Oceanology in Woods Hall, Massachusetts, Dr. Robert D. Ballard, discovered the Titanic's place of occurrence at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 3750 meters.

The distance between the remains of the bow and stern of the Titanic is about 600 meters.

The remains of the ship were discovered 13 miles west of the coordinates that the Titanic transmitted in its SOS signal.

In April 2012, one hundred years after the shipwreck, the wreck acquired the protection of the 2001 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. From now on, the states parties to the Convention have the right to prevent the destruction, looting, sale and unauthorized distribution of objects found at the shipwreck. They can take all necessary measures to protect the wreckage of a sunken ship, as well as to ensure that the human remains resting in them are properly treated.

Conspiracy theory

Reflection of the Titanic in art

The crash of the liner has become one of the most famous disasters in the history of mankind. To some extent, the image of the Titanic has become a symbol of the death of something that seemed powerful and unsinkable, a symbol of the weakness of human technogenic civilization before the forces of nature. The catastrophe was widely reflected in art, especially mass art. The first film dedicated to the disaster - " Escaped from the Titanic" - appeared already in May 1912, a month after the crash. In the same year, 1912, but before the catastrophe occurred, Morgan Robertson's book "Futility, or the death of the Titan" ("Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan") was published, the action of which took place on board a passenger ship " Titan, similar in description and displacement to the Titanic. In this book, the Titan dies after colliding with an iceberg in the fog while sailing from New York to the UK. As a result, a legend appeared about the “prediction” of the Titanic disaster by Morgan Robertson. This fact is reinforced by the fact that despite the publication of the book in 1912, it was written in 1898.

The film " Titanic", released in 1997, was the leader in box office receipts in the world film distribution for 13 years ($ 1,845,034,188, of which $ 600,788,188 - in the USA), but in 2010 the record "Titanic" was broken by the film "Avatar", released by the same director; In April 2012, on the centenary of the disaster, Cameron releases his old film in 3D.

The death of the ship was dedicated to many songs of performers and groups playing in different genres. In particular, in the song of the same name by the Austrian artist Falco (1992), the Titanic is seen as a symbol of decadence, the end of an era, in the song of the Russian group Nautilus Pompilius from the album of the same name Titanic (1994), the floating ship appears as a symbol of death and doom.

see also

• Titanic Belfast (museum)

Notes

1. About the fate of the superliners of the company "White Star Line" (Retrieved April 8, 2012)
2. Do you know | RU
3. Museum "Titanic Belfast"

The sinking of the Titanic claimed the lives of 1,517 of the 2,229 passengers and crew (official figures vary slightly) in one of the worst maritime disasters in world history. 712 survivors were brought aboard the RMS Carpathia. After this disaster, a great resonance swept through the public affecting attitudes towards social injustice, radically changed the way passengers were transported following the North Atlantic Passage, the rules for the number of lifeboats carried on board passenger ships were changed and the International Ice Reconnaissance was created (where merchant ships crossing the North Atlantic are still, with the help of radio signals, they transmit accurate information about the location and concentration of ice). In 1985, a major discovery was made, the Titanic was discovered at the bottom of the ocean and became a turning point for the public and for the development of new areas of science and technology. April 15, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic. It became one of the most famous ships in history, her image has remained in numerous books, films, exhibitions and monuments.

Crash of the Titanic in real time

duration - 2 hours 40 minutes!

The British passenger liner Titanic leaves Southampton, England on her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. The Titanic was called to Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland, before heading west towards New York. Four days in transit, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm, 375 miles south of Newfoundland. Shortly before 2:20 am, the Titanic broke up and sank. More than a thousand people were on board at the time of the accident. Some died in the water within minutes from hypothermia in the waters of the North Antaltic Ocean. (Frank O. Braynard Collection)

The luxury liner Titanic, pictured in this 1912 photograph, left Queenstown for New York on her ill-fated last voyage. The passengers of this ship were included in the list of the richest people in the world, such as millionaires John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidor Strauss, as well as more than a thousand immigrants from Ireland, Scandinavia and other countries seeking a new life in America. The disaster was greeted around the world with shock and outrage at the huge loss of life and violation of the regulatory and operational parameters that led to this disaster. The investigation into the sinking of the Titanic began a few days later and led to a significant improvement in maritime safety. (United Press International)

Crowd of workers. Shipyard Harland and Wolf shipyard in Belfast, where the Titanic was built between 1909 and 1911. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, and was the largest ship afloat during her maiden voyage. The ship is visible in the background of this 1911 photograph. (Photo Archive/Harland & Wolff/Cox Collection)

Photo taken in 1912. In the photo, a chic dining room aboard the Titanic. The ship has been designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, with an onboard gym, swimming pool, libraries, upscale restaurants and luxurious cabins. (Photo archive of The New York Times / American Press Association)

1912 photograph. Second class canteen on the Titanic. A disproportionate number of people - over 90% of those in second class - remained on board because of the "women and children first" protocols followed by lifeboat loading officers. (Photo archive of The New York Times / American Press Association)

Photo April 10, 1912, it shows the Titanic leaving Southampton, England. The tragic sinking of the Titanic took place a century ago, one of the causes of the death of, according to some, weak rivets used by the ship's builders in some parts of this ill-fated liner. (Associated Press)

Captain Edward John Smith, commander of the Titanic. He commanded the largest ship at that time making its first voyage. The Titanic was a massive ship - 269 meters long, 28 meters wide and weighing 52,310 tons. 53 meters separated from the keel to the top, almost 10 meters of which were below the waterline. The Titanic was higher above the water than most city buildings of the time. (The New York Times Archive)

First Mate William McMaster Murdoch, who is regarded as a local hero in his hometown of Dalbeattie, Scotland, but in the movie Titanic was portrayed as a coward and a murderer. At a ceremony to mark the 86th anniversary of the ship's sinking, Scott Neeson, executive vice president of film producers 20th Century Fox, presented a check for five thousand pounds (US$8,000) to Dalbeattie School as an apology for the painting to an officer's relative. (Associated Press)

It is believed that it was this iceberg that caused the accident of the Titanic on April 14-15, 1912. The picture was taken aboard the Western Union ship, Mackay Bennett, commanded by Captain DeCarteret. McKay Bennet was one of the first ships to reach the site where the Titanic sank. According to Captain DeCarteret, it was the only iceberg at the site of the sinking when it arrived. It is assumed, therefore, that he was responsible for this tragedy. A glimpse of a collision with an iceberg caused the Titanic's hull plates to buckle inward in a number of places on her board and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments into which water gushed in an instant. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship gradually filled with water and sank. (United States Coast Guard)

Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partially filled. This photo of a lifeboat from the Titanic approaching the rescue ship Carpathia was taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden and was on display in 2003, an exhibition of photographs that relate to the Titanic (bequeathed to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, by Walter Lord). (National Maritime Museum / London)

Seven hundred and twelve survivors were brought aboard from lifeboats on the RMS Carpathia. This photograph taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden shows the Titanic lifeboat approaching the rescue ship, the Carpathians. The photograph was part of an exhibition in 2003 at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England named after Walter Lord. (National Maritime Museum / London)

Although the Titanic had advanced safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, she lacked enough lifeboats to accommodate all those on board. Due to outdated maritime safety regulations, she carried only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people - a third of her total passenger and crew capacity. This sepia photograph depicting the recovery of the passengers of the Titanic is one of the memorabilia about to go under the hammer at Christies in London, May 2012. (Paul Tracy / EPA / PA)

Members of the press interview Titanic survivors coming off the rescue ship, Carpathians, May 17, 1912. (American Press Association)

Eva Hart is portrayed as seven years old in this photograph taken in 1912 with her father, Benjamin, and mother Esther. Eva and her mother survived the sinking of the British liner Titanic on April 14, 1912, but her father died in the crash. (Associated Press)

People stand on the street waiting for the arrival of Carpathia after the sinking of the Titanic. (The New York Times / Wide World Photo Archive)

A huge crowd gathered in front of Star Line's White Office on Lower Broadway in New York City to get the latest news about the sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912. (Associated Press)

The editors of The New York Times at the time of the sinking of the Titanic, April 15, 1912. (Photo archive of The New York Times)

(Photo archive of The New York Times)

Two messages were sent from America by insurers to Lloyds in London in the mistaken belief that other ships, including those of Virginia, were coming to the rescue when the Titanic sank. These two commemorative messages are due to go under the hammer at Christies in London in May 2012. (AFP/EPA/Press Association)

Laura Francatelli, and her employers Lady Lucy Duff-Gordon and Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, standing on the rescue ship, Carpathians (Associated Press / Henry Aldridge & Son / Ho)

This vintage seal shows the Titanic shortly before leaving for its maiden voyage in 1912. (New York Times Archive)

A photograph released by Henry Aldridge and Son/Ho auctioned in Wiltshire, England on April 18, 2008 shows an extremely rare Titanic passenger ticket. They were auction handling the complete collection of Miss Lilian Asplund's last American Titanic Survivor. The collection consists of a number of important objects including a pocket watch, one of the few remaining tickets for the Titanic's maiden voyage and the only example of a direct emigration order the Titanic thought to exist. Lillian Asplund was a very private person, and because of a terrible event, she became a witness that on a cold April night in 1912, she rarely spoke about the tragedy that claimed the lives of her father and three brothers. (Henry Aldridge)

(National Maritime Museum / London)

Breakfast menu aboard the Titanic, signed by survivors of the disaster. (National Maritime Museum / London)

The nose of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean, 1999 (Institute of Oceanology)

The image shows one of the Titanic's propellers at the bottom of the ocean during an expedition to the site of the tragedy. Five thousand exhibits planned to be auctioned off as a single collection on April 11, 2012, 100 years after the sinking of the ship (RMS Titanic, Inc, via The Associated Press)

Photo August 28, 2010, released for the premiere of the exhibition, Inc-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, shows the starboard side of the Titanic. (Premier Exhibitions, Inc. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)

Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who found the remains of the Titanic almost two decades ago, returned to the site and calculated the damage from visitors and hunters for the "souvenir" of the ship. (Institute of Oceanography and Archaeological Research Center / University of Rhode Island Grad. Schools of Oceanography)

The giant propeller of the sunken Titanic lies on the floor in the North Atlantic in this undated photograph. The propeller and other parts of the famous ship were seen by the first tourists to visit the wreck in September 1998.

(Ralph White/Associated Press)

The 17-ton part of the Titanic's hull rises to the surface during an expedition to the site of the tragedy in 1998. (RMS Titanic, Inc., via The Associated Press)

July 22, 2009, photo of the 17-ton part of the Titanic, which was raised and restored during an expedition to the site of the tragedy. (RMS Titanic, Inc., via The Associated Press)

A gold-plated American Waltham pocket watch, owned by Carl Asplund, in front of a contemporary watercolor painting of the Titanic by CJ Ashford at the Henry Aldridge & Son Auctions in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, April 3, 2008. The clock was recovered from the body of Karl Asplund who drowned on the Titanic, and is part of Lillian Asplund, the last American survivor of the disaster. (Kirsty Wigglesworth Associated Press)

The currency, part of the Titanic collection, is photographed at a warehouse in Atlanta, August 2008. The owner of the largest trove of artifacts from the Titanic is offering a huge collection for auction in a single lot in 2012, on the 100th anniversary of the most famous shipwreck in the world. (Stanley Leary/Associated Press)

Photographs by Felix Asplund, Selma and Carl Asplund and Lillian Asplund, by Henry Aldridge and Son Auctions at Devizes, Wiltshire, England, April 3, 2008. The photographs were part of Lillian Asplund's collection of Titanic-related items. Asplund was 5 years old in April 1912 when the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from England to New York. Her father and three siblings were among the 1,514 dead. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press)

Exhibits at the "Titanic Artifact Exhibition" at the California Science Center: binoculars, comb, dishes and a broken incandescent light bulb, February 6, 2003. (Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images, Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times)

Glasses among the wreckage of the Titanic were among the choicest artifacts of the Titanic. (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

Golden Spoon (Titanic Artifacts) (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

A chronometer from the Titanic Bridge is on display at the Science Museum in London, May 15, 2003. The Chronometer, one of more than 200 items salvaged from the wreck of the Titanic, was on display at the launch of a new exhibit commemorating its ill-fated maiden voyage along with bottles of perfume. The exhibition took visitors on a chronological journey through the life of the Titanic, from its concept and construction, to life on board, and its plunge into the Atlantic Ocean in April 1912. (Alastair Grant/Associated Press)

Logo meter to measure the speed of the Titanic and a hinged lamp. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Titanic artifacts displayed in the media for preview purposes only, to announce the historical sale is complete. a collection of artifacts recovered from the wreck of the Titanic and showcasing highlights from the collection at sea by Intrepid, Air & SpaceMuseum January 2012. (Chang W. Lee / The New York Times)

Cups and pocket watches from the Titanic are displayed during a Guernsey auction press conference, January 5, 2012. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images, Brendan McDermid/Reuters Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images-2)

Spoons. RMS Titanic, Inc. is the only company authorized to remove elements from the ocean floor where the Titanic sank. (Douglas Healey/Associated Press)

Gold mesh purse. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The April 2012 edition of National Geographic magazine (on-line version available on iPad) sees new images and drawings of the Titanic wreck as it remains on the seafloor, gradually disintegrating at a depth of 12,415 feet (3,784 m). (National Geographic)

Two propeller blades peek out from the darkness of the sea. This optical mosaic is assembled from 300 high resolution images. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

First full view of the legendary wreck. The photo mosaic consists of 1500 high resolution images using sonar data. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

Side view of the Titanic. You can see how the hull sank to the bottom and where the iceberg's fatal impact points are. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

(COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

Making sense of this tangle of metal presents endless challenges to professionals. One says: "If you interpret this material, you must love Picasso." (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

The Titanic's two engines lie in a gaping hole in the stern. Wrapped in "rusticles" - orange stalactites made of iron - that eat the bacteria of these massive four-story structures, the largest moving man-made objects on Earth at the time. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

The unsinkable Titanic, the pride and curse of the White Star Line.

This week, humanity is celebrating the anniversary of the most famous ship in the world: exactly 100 years ago, on May 31, 1911, the Olympic-class passenger liner was launched, which was beautifully and powerfully called the Titanic.

Millvina Dean (1912-2009) is the youngest passenger on the Titanic who miraculously escaped death. Millvina was two months and 27 days old at the time of the crash.

According to another (fortunately comic) theory, the Titanic sank from a collision with the Japanese lizard Godzilla.

Everyone knows that on April 15, 1912, in less than twelve months, the brainchild of the White Star Line sank in the waters of the Atlantic after colliding with an iceberg. Some, however, believe that the true causes of the disaster still remain in the shadows. In other words, for a whole century we have been fooled and deceived, but in fact “it was not like that, it was not like that at all.”

"Titanic" and "Olympic": changed!

In 1998, a book by a well-known expert on the unknown, Robin Gardiner, “Titanic”: the ship that did not sink? The absurd death of the ship and the mass of coincidences that led to the disaster forced Gardiner to look for a conspiracy in what had happened. And such a conspiracy was discovered, or rather, reconstructed in Gardiner's brain: it turns out that it was not the Titanic that sank in the Atlantic Ocean, but the Olympic, skillfully disguised as it, the first ocean liner of the eponymous series.

In September 1911, while the Titanic was still under construction, the already launched Olympic collided near Southampton with the Royal Navy cruiser Hawke. The Olympic team was found guilty of the collision, which means that the White Star Line could not receive insurance. The company faced a huge financial gap. It was then that it was decided to go for a monstrous forgery: renaming the ships, passing off the damaged Olympic as the Titanic, sinking it and getting insurance. According to Gardiner, after the death of the pseudo-Titanic, the real Titanic continued to plow the seas under the name of Olympic until 1935, when it was finally sent to retire.

But what about the iceberg? Forget: there was no iceberg! There was a black-painted ship with its lights out, waiting for the Titanic at a predetermined spot, and in the darkness mistook the passengers for an iceberg. Of course, there were officers on board the Titanic who carried out a sinister plan. The owners of the White Star Line miscalculated in only one thing: their "unsinkable" ship sank too quickly to save all or almost all of the passengers (there would be enough lifeboats for everyone, because if the liner was sinking slowly, each boat would have time to make multiple raids).

Immediately upon the release of the book, specialists in the history of the Titanic did not leave stone unturned from Gardiner's theory, which does not prevent it from existing to this day. The hour is uneven, someone will remember the third ship, the Britannic: during the First World War it was converted into a floating hospital, in November 1916 it hit a mine and sank, taking the lives of thirty people with it.

"Titanic" and "Titan": a prophecy

Immediately after the death of the Titanic, the editors of several publishing houses recalled the story of the marine painter Morgan Robertson's story "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan", created 14 years before the ill-fated voyage. According to its plot, the world's largest ocean liner "Titan" makes a voyage across the North Atlantic and dies on a calm April night when it collides with an iceberg, and most of the passengers drown because the ship does not have the proper number of boats. The protagonist, a degraded Navy officer, is hired as a sailor on the Titan, saves the young daughter of his former lover from death, and in the end gains everything that he once lost.

According to the characteristics of Robertson's Titan, it differed slightly from the Titanic: the length of the hull was 20 meters less, the maximum speed was four knots more, passengers - 2500 (on the Titanic - 2207), lifeboats - 24 (on the Titanic) - twenty). The iceberg, and the Atlantic Ocean region, and a quiet night in April coincided. True, only 13 people escaped the Titanic, while 705 passengers survived the death of the Titanic. In addition, the Titan did not sail from England to the United States, but in the opposite direction.

In 1898, when Morgan Robertson wrote Futility, no publisher dared to publish his manuscript on the grounds that it was too fantastical. The story was published in 1914 in the same collection with a story describing a future naval war between Japan and the United States, which begins with a Japanese surprise attack on American ships near the Philippines and Hawaii. In reality, kamikaze attacked the American fleet in Pearl Harbor on Oahu, an island in the Hawaiian archipelago.

How the author of "Futility" himself reacted to the death of the "Titanic" is unknown. On March 24, 1915, Robertson died at the age of 53 at the Alamak Hotel in Atlantic City. The fault was, perhaps, an overdose of mercury iodide, which was considered a medicine in those days, and was later banned from sale.

Interestingly, the matter is not limited to Robertson's story: when the Titanic sank, the next issue of the American Popular Magazine was already sent to print with Main Clue Garnett's story "The White Ghost of Catastrophe" - again about the tragic collision of an ocean liner with an iceberg in the Atlantic. ocean.

Titanic, Pope and Mummy

Immediately after the disaster, numerous legends arose about the curse that lay on the ship. The press immediately connected the death of the Titanic with the fact that the bosses of the White Star Line company deliberately refused to baptize their ships. They also said that when the liner was launched into the water, the traditional bottle of champagne was not broken on the side of the ship.

In Belfast, where the Titanic was built, a strange belief arose: that the ship was assigned the number 390904, which, if you look at it in the mirror, resembles the word “NOPOPE”, that is, the call “No Pope” common among Irish Protestants - “ No to the Pope." It was believed that in this way the owners of the Harland and Wolff shipyard, which built the ship, decided to demonstrate their anti-Catholic sentiments. This shipyard was famous for hiring mostly Protestants - either because Messrs. Harland and Wolf really despised the Catholic Church, or because the shipyard was located in east Belfast, where there were only one or two Catholics. and cheated. Be that as it may, in fact, the number of the Titanic was not 390904, but 401.

There are also legends associated with the most famous (after Leonard DiCaprio) passenger of the Titanic - the British journalist and writer William Thomas Stead, who died in the disaster. Stead spent his life vehemently castigating the vices of Victorian society, including child prostitution, and as a journalist earned himself a scandalous reputation. Among other things, he published the story "From the Old World to the New" (1892), in which he described (presciently?) the death of a certain ship from a collision with an iceberg.

However, in connection with the Titanic, Stead is most often referred to in the context, paradoxically, of the "curse of the mummy." According to legend, shortly before the disaster, the journalist purchased the cursed mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh from the British Museum. Hiding the mummy under the bottom of the car, Stead secretly delivered it to the Titanic and allegedly told other passengers about it the night before the ship met its icy fate.

Of course, the British Museum did not sell any mummy to Stead. Another thing is that no one can forbid people to believe in the curse of the Titanic. How else to come to terms with the catastrophe, if you do not explain it by the intervention of otherworldly forces?

The Titanic is the largest and most luxurious liner of its time. He was not embarrassed to be called unsinkable, and he really seemed like that. She set out on her maiden voyage at noon on the tenth of April from the English port of Southampton. The final destination was to be the American city of New York. But the Titanic, as you know, did not reach the shores of the United States ...

Collision of the Titanic with an iceberg

On April 14, 1912, the liner at full steam (at a speed of 22.5 knots, it was almost the maximum speed) was rushing across the North Atlantic. Nothing foreshadowed the tragedy, there was complete calm. An orchestra was playing on the upper deck in a restaurant with a beautiful interior. Rich people from the first class drank champagne, walked in the open air and enjoyed the wonderful weather.

Late in the evening on April 14, at 23:39, two lookouts (as the sailors who observe the situation from a comfortable position during the voyage are officially called) noticed an iceberg right on the course and reported this by phone to the bridge. Officer William Murdoch immediately commanded "Left rudder." Thus he tried to prevent a collision.

But the multi-ton ship could not turn instantly, although in this case every second was worth its weight in gold - a block of ice was getting closer. And only after about half a minute the nose of the Titanic began to tilt to the left. Ultimately, the visible part of the iceberg "missed" the ship without hitting the starboard side.

The Titanic managed to turn two points, which was enough to prevent a head-on collision, but the liner still could not completely get away from the ice block - it ran into its hidden part, which was under water. This contact lasted approximately nine seconds. As a result, six holes were formed - all of them were below the waterline.

Contrary to popular misconception, the iceberg did not "cut" the bottom of the liner. Everything was a little different: from the strong pressure, the rivets on the skin burst, the steel sheets arched and gaps appeared between them. Through them, water began to penetrate into the compartments. And the penetration rate, of course, was huge - more than seven tons per second.

The iceberg bent the ship's hull, resulting in a leak

Further chronology of the tragedy

Most of the passengers on the upper deck did not feel any threat at first. The stewards, who served appetizers in the restaurant, noted only a slight clinking of spoons and forks on the tables. Some of the passengers felt a slight jolt and rattle, which ended quickly. Some people thought that the propeller blade just fell off the ship.

On the lower decks, the first consequences were more tangible: the local passengers heard an unpleasant rattle and rumble.

Exactly at midnight, Thomas Andrews, the man who designed the Titanic, came to the bridge. He had to assess the nature and severity of the resulting damage. After reporting on what had happened and inspecting the ship, Andrews told everyone assembled that the Titanic would definitely sink.

Soon the ship began to list noticeably. The 62-year-old captain of the ship, Edward Smith, gave the order to prepare the boats and start calling passengers for evacuation.

And the radio operators, in turn, were ordered to send SOS signals to all nearby ships. They did this for the next two hours, and only a few minutes before the complete sinking, Smith freed the telegraphers from work.

Distress signals were received by several ships, but almost all of them were too far from the Titanic. At 00:25 a message about the tragedy on the Titanic was received by the Carpathia ship. It was located at a distance of 93 kilometers from the crash site. Immediately, the captain of the Carpathia, Arthur Rostron, sent his ship to the area. The Carpathia, hurrying to help people, managed to reach a record speed of 17.5 knots that night - for this, all electrical appliances and heating were turned off on the ship.

There was another ship that was even closer to the Titanic than the Carpathia - only 10 nautical miles (that's equal to 18.5 kilometers). Theoretically, he could help. We are talking about the ship "Californian". The Californian was surrounded by ice, and therefore its captain decided to stop the ship - it was planned to start moving again only the next morning.

At 11:30 p.m., Titanic radio operator Phillips and Californian radio operator Evans were talking to each other. Moreover, at the very end of this dialogue, Phillips rather rudely asked Evans not to clog the air, since at that moment he was transmitting a signal to Cape Race (this is a cape on the island of Newfoundland). After that, Evans simply turned off the power in the radio room and went to sleep. And 10 minutes later, the Titanic collided with an iceberg. Some time later, the Titanic sent the first distress call, but the Californian could no longer receive it.

On top of that, there were no red emergency flares on the Titanic. Confidence in the unsinkability of the ship was so high that no one bothered to take the red rockets with them. Then it was decided to fire volleys with ordinary whites. The calculation was that the crew of a nearby ship would guess that the Titanic was in trouble. The Californian officers did see white rockets, but they thought it was just some kind of festive fireworks. A fantastic series of misunderstandings!

At half past one in the night, passengers began to be seated in boats. It immediately became clear that there were not enough places for everyone. In total, there were twenty boats on board and their total capacity was 1178 people.

By order of Captain Smith, his assistant Charles Lightoller, who supervised the evacuation process on the port side of the liner, only children and women were taken into the boats. Men, according to the captain, were obliged to be on the ship to the last. But William Murdoch, another assistant to Smith, who led the evacuation on the starboard side, gave places in the boats and men when there were no women and children in the line of those gathered.

At about 02:15 the nose of the liner suddenly dropped down and the rest of the ship moved forward. A large cold wave swept across the decks, many people were simply blown overboard.

Around 02:20, the Titanic completely disappeared under the ocean water. The liner was so huge that it took 160 minutes to sink.

After the stern was completely submerged, hundreds of people swam to the surface. They swam in icy water among all sorts of things from the ship: wooden beams, pieces of furniture, doors, etc. Many tried to use all this as a watercraft.

The temperature of the ocean water that night was -2°C (sea water does not freeze at this temperature due to the concentration of salt in it). A person here died from severe hypothermia on average within half an hour. And many of those moving away from the sunken ship on boats heard the heartbreaking cries of those who did not have enough space in the boats ...

At about 04:00, the Carpathia appeared in the area of ​​the sinking Titanic. This ship took 712 people on board, after which it headed for New York. Among the rescued, 394 people are women and children, 129 people are men, and another 189 people are members of the ship's crew.

The number of those who died in this shipwreck was, according to various sources, from 1400 to 1517 people (it is difficult to give an exact figure, because there were many stowaways on the Titanic). Thus, 60% of passengers from first class cabins managed to escape, 44% from second class cabins, 25% from those who bought third class tickets.

Characteristics of the Titanic

When commissioned, the Titanic was 269 meters long and about 30 meters wide. The height of the liner was also impressive: from the waterline to the uppermost boat deck, it was 18.5 meters here (and if you count from the keel to the top of the first tube , it would have turned out to be 53 meters in general). The draft of this liner was 10.5 meters, and the displacement was 52,310 tons.

"Titanic" in 1912 in the port of Belfast (this is where it was built)

The liner was driven by several four-cylinder steam engines and a steam turbine. At the same time, steam for them, as well as for all kinds of auxiliary mechanisms, was produced in 29 boilers. It is worth noting specifically that none of the ship's thirty mechanics survived. They remained in the engine room and supported the operation of the steam units to the last.

The role of movers on the Titanic was performed by three propellers. The diameter of the central screw was 5.2 meters, it had four blades. The screws located along the edges had a larger diameter - 7.2 meters, but they had three blades. Propellers with three blades could make up to 80 revolutions per minute, and the central one - up to 180 revolutions per minute.

Above the upper deck, there were also four pipes, each 19 meters high. The Titanic had a double bottom and had sixteen airtight compartments. They were separated by watertight bulkheads. According to calculations, the ship would have remained afloat even if any two compartments or four consecutive compartments at the bow or stern were flooded. But on the night of the tragedy, the iceberg damaged five compartments - one more than allowed.

Composition of the crew and passengers

It is known that in the tragic voyage in the ship's crew there were many people who did not undergo special training: stewards, stokers, stitchers (the so-called people whose task was to bring coal to the fireboxes and throw ash overboard), coca. There were very few qualified sailors - only 39 sailors and seven officers, assistants to the captain. Moreover, some of the sailors did not even have time to get to know the Titanic's device well, as they were accepted into the service just a few days before sailing.

It is worth talking a little about the passengers. The passenger composition was extremely diverse - from mendicant emigrants from Sweden, Italy, Ireland, sailing for a better life in the New World, to hereditary millionaires such as John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim (both died).

Benjamin Guggenheim put on his best tailcoat and began to drink whiskey in the hall - this is how he spent the last hours of his life

In accordance with the cost of the purchased ticket, there was a division into three classes. For those who swam in the first class, a swimming pool, a gym for physical education, a bathhouse, a squash court, an electric bath (a kind of "ancestor" of a solarium) and a special section for pets were provided. There was also a restaurant, elegant dining rooms, and smoking rooms.

By the way, the service in the third class was also worthy, better than on some other transatlantic steamers of that time. The cabins were bright and comfortable, they were not cold and clean enough. The dining room served not too refined, but quite acceptable dishes, there were special decks for walking.

The premises and spaces of the ship were strictly divided according to classes. And passengers, say, third class were forbidden to be on the deck of the first class.

Titanic in books and films

The terrible events that happened on the Titanic in April 1912 served as the basis for many literary works, paintings, songs and films.

The first book about the Titanic was written, paradoxically, long before it sank. The little-known American writer Morgan Robertson published the story "Futility, or the Death of the Titan" back in 1898. It described the seemingly unsinkable ship "Titan", which crashed on an April night, colliding with an iceberg. There were not enough boats on the Titan, and so many of the passengers died.

The story did not sell well at first, but after the 1912 incident, interest in the book increased sharply - there were quite a few coincidences between the events described in the story and the real wreck of the Titanic. And the key technical characteristics of the fictional Titan were similar to those of the real Titanic - a truly amazing fact!

Morgan Robertson and his story, where the death of the Titanic was predicted to some extent

And the first feature film about the tragedy was released in May of the same 1912 - it was called "The Escaped from the Titanic". It was 10 minutes long, silent and black and white. The main role here was played by Dorothy Gibson, an actress who herself found herself on the Titanic that ill-fated night and found her salvation in boat number seven.

In 1953, director Jean Negulesco turned to the theme of the tragic journey of the Titanic. According to the plot, a husband, wife and their two children sort things out on the Titanic. And everything seems to be getting better, but then the liner stumbles upon an iceberg and begins to go to the bottom. The family has to endure separation, the wife and daughter sail away on the boat, the son and father remain on the sinking ship. The film, by the way, received one "Oscar" in the same 1953.

But the most famous film about the sinking of the liner is James Cameron's Titanic, which appeared in theaters (and then on DVD) in 1997. He won as many as eleven Oscars and for a long time was considered the highest grossing film in general in history.

Authoritative experts on the sinking of the Titanic (for example, historian Don Lynch and marine painter Ken Marshall) took part in preparing the script and creating the scenery for Cameron's film. Collaboration with respected experts made it possible to accurately convey some episodes of the crash. Cameron's "Titanic" caused a new wave of interest in the history of the liner. In particular, after the release of the film, the demand for books and exhibitions related to this topic increased.

Discovery of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic

The legendary ship lay at the bottom for 73 years before it was discovered. More specifically, it was found in 1985 by a group of divers led by oceanographer Robert Ballard. As a result, it turned out that under the enormous pressure of the water, the Titanic (the depth here was about 4000 meters) fell apart into three parts. The wreckage of the liner was scattered over an area with a radius of 1.6 kilometers. Ballard and his associates first of all found the bow of the vessel, which, apparently, due to its large mass, had sunk heavily into the ground. Food was found 800 meters away. Nearby were seen and the remains of the middle part.

Between the large elements of the liner at the bottom, one could also see small items testifying to that era: a set of copper cutlery, unopened wine bottles, coffee cups, door handles, candelabra and ceramic baby dolls...

Later, several expeditions to the remains of the Titanic were conducted by RMS Titanic, which legally had the rights to fragments of the liner and other related artifacts. During these expeditions, more than 6,000 items were raised from the bottom. They were subsequently valued at $110 million. These items were exhibited in thematic expositions or sold at auctions.

But why wasn't the Titanic fully lifted up? Alas, this is not possible. Experts have found that any attempt to raise the hull of the liner will lead to its destruction, and therefore it is likely to remain at the bottom forever.

Documentary "Titanic": the death of a dream"

On April 10, 1912, the Titanic liner set off from Southampton Port on its first and last voyage, which collided with an iceberg 4 days later. We know about the tragedy that claimed the lives of almost 1496 people largely thanks to the film, but let's get acquainted with the real stories of the passengers of the Titanic.

The real cream of society gathered on the passenger deck of the Titanic: millionaires, actors and writers. Not everyone could afford to buy a class I ticket - the price was $60,000 at current prices.

3rd class passengers bought tickets for only $35 ($650 these days), so they were not allowed to go above the third deck. On the fateful night, the division into classes turned out to be more tangible than ever...

One of the first to jump into a lifeboat was Bruce Ismay, CEO of the White Star Line company, which owned the Titanic. The boat, designed for 40 people, set sail from the side with only twelve.

After the disaster, Ismay was accused of boarding a lifeboat, avoiding women and children, and of instructing the captain of the Titanic to increase speed, which led to the tragedy. The court acquitted him.

William Ernest Carter boarded the Titanic at Southampton with his wife, Lucy, and their two children, Lucy and William, and two dogs.

On the night of the disaster, he was at a party in the restaurant of the first class ship, and after the collision, together with his comrades, he went on deck, where the boats were already being prepared. First, William put his daughter in boat number 4, but when it was his son's turn, they were in trouble.

Right in front of them, 13-year-old John Rison boarded the boat, after which the boarding officer ordered that teenage boys not be taken on board. Lucy Carter resourcefully threw her hat on her 11-year-old son and sat down with him.

When the boarding process was completed and the boat began to descend into the water, Carter himself quickly got into it, along with another passenger. It turned out to be the already mentioned Bruce Ismay.

Roberta Mahoney, 21, worked as a servant to the countess and sailed on the Titanic with her mistress in first class.

On board, she met a brave young steward from the ship's crew, and soon the young people fell in love with each other. When the Titanic began to sink, the steward rushed to Roberta's cabin, brought her to the boat deck and put her in the boat, giving her his life jacket.

He himself died, like many other crew members, and Robert was picked up by the Carpathia ship, on which she sailed to New York. Only there, in her coat pocket, did she find a badge with a star, which, at the moment of parting, the steward put in her pocket as a memory of himself.

Emily Richards sailed along with her two young sons, mother, brother and sister to her husband. At the time of the disaster, the woman was sleeping in the cabin with her children. They were awakened by the screams of their mother, who ran into the cabin after the collision.

The Richardses were miraculously able to climb through the window into the descending lifeboat No. 4. When the Titanic completely sank, the passengers of her boat managed to pull seven more people out of the icy water, two of whom, unfortunately, soon died of frostbite.

The famous American businessman Isidor Strauss and his wife Ida traveled in first class. The Strauss have been married for 40 years and have never parted.

When the ship's officer invited the family to board the boat, Isidore refused, deciding to give way to women and children, but Ida also followed him.

Instead of themselves, the Strauss put their maid in the boat. Isidore's body was identified by a wedding ring, Ida's body was not found.

Two orchestras played on the Titanic: a quintet led by 33-year-old British violinist Wallace Hartley and an additional trio of musicians who were hired to give Café Parisien a continental touch.

Usually, the two members of the Titanic orchestra worked in different parts of the liner and at different times, but on the night of the ship's death, all of them united into one orchestra.

One of the rescued passengers of the Titanic wrote later: “Many heroic deeds were committed that night, but none of them could compare with the feat of these few musicians, playing hour after hour, although the ship sank deeper and deeper, and the sea to the place where they stood. The music they played gave them the right to be included in the list of heroes of eternal glory."

Hartley's body was found two weeks after the sinking of the Titanic and sent to England. A violin was tied to his chest - a gift from the bride. There were no survivors among the other members of the orchestra ...

Four-year-old Michel and two-year-old Edmond traveled with their father, who died in the crash, and were considered "orphans of the Titanic" until their mother was found in France.

Michel died in 2001, he was the last male survivor on the Titanic.

Winnie Coates was on her way to New York with her two children. On the night of the disaster, she woke up from a strange noise, but decided to wait for the orders of the crew members. Her patience snapped, she rushed about the endless corridors of the ship for a long time, getting lost.

Suddenly met by a member of the crew directed her to the boats. She stumbled on a broken closed gate, but just at that moment another officer appeared, who saved Winnie and her children by giving them his life jacket.

As a result, Vinnie ended up on the deck, where she was boarding boat No. 2, on which, literally by a miracle, she managed to dive ..

Seven-year-old Eva Hart escaped the sinking Titanic with her mother, but her father died in the crash.

Ellen Walker believes she was conceived on the Titanic before it hit the iceberg. “It means a lot to me,” she admitted in an interview.

Her parents were 39-year-old Samuel Morley, the owner of a jewelry store in England, and 19-year-old Kate Phillips, one of his employees, fled to America from the man's first wife, seeking to start a new life.

Kate got into a lifeboat, Samuel jumped into the water after her, but did not know how to swim and drowned. "Mom spent 8 hours in a lifeboat," Helen said. "She was wearing only a nightgown, but one of the sailors gave her his jumper."

Violet Constance Jessop. Until the last moment, the stewardess did not want to be hired on the Titanic, but her friends convinced her because they thought it would be a "wonderful experience."

Prior to that, on October 20, 1910, Violet became a stewardess of the transatlantic liner Olympic, which a year later collided with the cruiser due to unsuccessful maneuvering, but the girl managed to escape.

And from the Titanic, Violet escaped on a boat. During the First World War, the girl went to work as a nurse, and in 1916 she got on board the Britannic, which ... also went to the bottom! Two boats with a crew were pulled under the screw of a sinking ship. 21 people died.

Among them could be Violet, who was sailing in one of the broken boats, but again luck was on her side: she managed to jump out of the boat and survived.

Fireman Arthur John Priest also survived a shipwreck not only on the Titanic, but also on the Olympic and Britannic (by the way, all three ships were the brainchild of the same company). Priest has 5 shipwrecks on his account.

On April 21, 1912, the New York Times published the story of Edward and Ethel Bean, who were on the Titanic in second class. After the crash, Edward helped his wife into the boat. But when the boat had already sailed, he saw that it was half empty, and threw himself into the water. Ethel dragged her husband into the boat.

Among the passengers of the Titanic was the famous tennis player Carl Behr and his lover Helen Newsom. After the disaster, the athlete ran to the cabin and brought the women to the boat deck.

The lovers were ready to say goodbye forever when the head of the White Star Line, Bruce Ismay, personally offered Beer a place on the boat. A year later, Karl and Helen got married, and later became the parents of three children.

Edward John Smith is the captain of the Titanic, who was very popular with both crew and passengers. At 2:13 am, just 10 minutes before the ship was completely submerged, Smith returned to the captain's bridge, where he decided to meet his death.

Second mate Charles Herbert Lightoller was one of the last to jump off the ship, narrowly avoiding being sucked into the ventilation shaft. He swam to the collapsible boat B, which was floating upside down: the Titanic's pipe that broke off and fell into the sea next to him drove the boat away from the sinking ship and allowed it to stay afloat.

American businessman Benjamin Guggenheim helped women and children into lifeboats during the crash. When asked to save himself, he replied: "We are dressed in our best clothes and are ready to die like gentlemen."

Benjamin died at the age of 46, his body was not found.

Thomas Andrews - first class passenger, Irish businessman and shipbuilder, was the designer of the Titanic ...

During the evacuation, Thomas helped the passengers into the boats. He was last seen in the first class smoking room near the fireplace, looking at a painting of Port Plymouth. His body was never found after the crash.

John Jacob and Madeleine Astor, the millionaire science fiction writer, were traveling first class with their young wife. Madeleine escaped on lifeboat number 4. The body of John Jacob was raised from the depths of the ocean 22 days after his death.

Colonel Archibald Gracie IV is an American writer and amateur historian who survived the sinking of the Titanic. Returning to New York, Gracie immediately began writing a book about his voyage.

It was she who became a real encyclopedia for historians and researchers of the disaster, thanks to the large number of names of stowaways and 1st class passengers who remained on the Titanic contained in it. Gracie's health was badly damaged by hypothermia and injuries, and he died in late 1912.

Margaret (Molly) Brown is an American socialite, philanthropist, and activist. Survived. When panic arose on the Titanic, Molly put people into lifeboats, but she herself refused to sit there.

"If the worst happens, I'll swim out," she said, until eventually someone pushed her into the number 6 lifeboat that made her famous.

After Molly organized the Titanic Survivors Relief Fund.

Millvina Dean was the last of the surviving passengers of the Titanic: she died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97 in a nursing home in Ashurst, Hampshire, on the 98th anniversary of the liner's launch. .

Her ashes were scattered on October 24, 2009 in the port of Southampton, from where the Titanic began its first and last voyage. At the time of the death of the liner, she was two and a half months old.